Thursday, November 19, 2015

Ted and I served the Lord in many denominations, non denominations and several mission organizations. The most graphic way I can image the doctrinal challenges these varied ministries required of us is to pull up (of course) something I learned as a farmer's daughter. In the evenings, as I headed down the path to fetch the milking cows I whistled for my shepherd/collie dog, and grabbed my single-shot rifle. ...but there was one path-hazard no dog or rifle could guard against: cow patties. It was up to me to spot 'em and step off the path, running the risk of encountering a rattle, bull, black or non-poisonous snake-in-the-bluegrass. My Ted was a courageous risk-taker, but he wasn't so good at spotting cow-patties. ...but then what can you expect of a city feller?

Many years ago our church in Bakersfield launched six young people to live for a year on a kibbutz in Israel. After returning, marrying and finishing their college one couple returned to Israel for a time, then moved on to Kitali, East Africa to start a seminary. Decades later, thousands of Africans have been trained for ministry. At 3:30 A.M. yesterday morning my cell phone dinged. From Cairo, Egypt, it was this spiritual son's reponse to last week's blog: "Pick Your Battles". Now in his 60's, from the beginning of his new life in Christ during our first pastorate in Bakersfield, California, he understood that we are to let a newborn nurse for a time, wean him or her when ready and entrust them to God as they move on out to bring LIFE-IN-CHRIST to others. By his permission, I am quoting this spiritual son's Email to me:

"Another winner, Jo. One of the things we do is interview business men and women (O.K., men...as it is not so accepted for women to be business owners in this culture.) One of the things we ask is 'What does the church think about your business?' They usually smile and think the question is some kind of trick. The pastor and elders have never asked them about their business nor have they ever visited them. Then they get a little frustrated and say they think the church only cares about the money they are able to give to the church. ... Discipleship must leave the four walls of the church and enter into the four corners of the marketplace. Until that happens most discipleship, if it takes place at all, dead ends at the church. To live by faith is to step outside what is comfortable, and like Paul, step into the lion's den of every community where you must get down and dirty to see the cleansing blood of Jesus flow into the lives of real people doing real things in the real world. In a meeting today with a successful business man he repeated over and over how no one really cares about him. They come when there is a financial need."

The Thursday Women just left my living room. Some are new and are increasingly serious about learning God's Word. Some who have been part of this group have ministries of their own now and I am so proud of them. Others have faded into the system, dependent upon their leaders to continue nursing them. I admit that my favorite mothering days were when I was nursing my three; I knew where they were, and for a few years they would show up at feeding time. In 1978, in Houston, Texas when the Lord removed us from what we thought would be a long pastorate to "Go and make disciples", Gerry Shaefer, the wife of the chairman of our church board said to me: "Jo, the life of a discipler is lonely. You're always working yourself out of a job. You are called to it." She was right. Tomorrow, from a city below three working women are coming. ...one, needing help in her desperate situation. The other two, helping her dig out of her pit. Now it is the next morning. The Lord met us in my living room. The lady quietly said: "Now I feel so LIGHT!" ... and the girls and I erupted in a shout-out: "Praise the Lord"! God's Word is quick...and powerful....sharper than any two-edged sword...

Question: When and if the visible church is forced underground, are you prepared to stand alone on the promises of God? ... and feed others? ...no blog next week. Snuggle your family and friends and praise the Lord that nobody is at our door with a bomb in hand or a knife raised to chop off our heads. ...yet.

OLD HYMN BY BLIND, BED-RIDDEN ANNIE JOHNSON FLINT
HE GIVETH MORE GRACE

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater;He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.To added affliction He addeth His mercy;To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.When we have exhausted our store of endurance;When our strength has failed 'ere the day is half done.When we reach the end of our hoarded resourcesOur Father's full giving is only begun.HIS LOVE HAS NO LIMIT, HIS GRACE HAS NO MEASUREHIS POWER HAS NO BOUNDARY KNOWN UNTO MENFOR OUT OF HIS INFINITE RICHES IN JESUS,HE GIVETH AND GIVETH AND GIVETH AGAIN.

Last week's blog title: "Pick Your Battles" calls for an additional phrase: "...and don't intentionally cause 'em." Ted and I served the Lord in many denominations, non denominations and a number of mission organizations. ...here in the United States and in other countries. The most graphic way I can image the challenges these varied ministries required of us is to pull up (of course) something I learned as a farmer's daughter. In the evenings, as I headed down the path to find the milking cows I whistled for my shepherd/collie dog, and grabbed my single-shot rifle. ...but there was one road-hazard no dog or rifle could eliminate: cow patties. It was up to me to look ahead, step off into the tall bluegrass and risk coming face to hissing face with a copperhead, rattler, cotton-mouth water moccasin, black snake, bull snake, or some non-venomous slitherer.

Moving in and out of various churches and missions required staying alert for the "cow-patties". Ted was a risk taker; he wasn't so adept at spotting cow patties, but then what can you expect from a city feller? Two matters were and are deal-breakers for me: 1) disrespect for fellow pilgrims and 2) ignoring the biblical meaning of "discipleship". With his permission I am going to pull in one of our sons-in-the-faith to write this blog.

Many years ago our church in Bakersfield launched six young people to live for a year on a kibbutz in Israel. After returning and finishing their college Phil and Debbie Walker returned to Israel for a time, then went to Kitali, East Africa to start a seminary. Decades later, thousands of Africans have been trained for ministry by International Christian Ministries, the mission they launched and Phil continues to direct.

At 3:30 A.M. yesterday morning the little dinger on my cell phone went off. It was an Email from Phil in response to last weekend's blog: ...from Cairo, Egypt.

"Another winner, Jo. One of the things we do is interview business men and women (O.K., men...as it is not so accepted for women to be business owners in this culture.) One of the things we ask is 'What does the church think about your business?' They usually smile and think the question is some kind of trick. The pastor and elders have never asked them about their business nor have they ever visited them. Then they get a little frustrated and say they think the church only cares about the money they are able to give to the church. ... Discipleship must leave the four walls of the church and enter into the four corners of the marketplace. Until that happens most discipleship, if it takes place at all, dead ends at the church. To live by faith is to step outside what is comfortable, and like Paul, step into the lion's den of every community where you must get down and dirty to see the cleansing blood of Jesus flow into the lives of real people doing real things in the real world. In a meeting today with a successful business man he repeated over and over how no one really cares about him. They come when there is a financial need. ...from one of your other sons, Phil."

Four women just left my living room. All are immersed in God's Word. All have networks of lost friends. Tomorrow, from a city below three working women are coming. ...one, needing help in her desperate situation. I will be here in their midst, but the other two women will carry the ball. The list of faithful disciplers is lengthening. There is hope for this country yet. ...the ONLY hope. "CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY".

...no blog next week. Try to handle it. Snuggle your family and friends and praise the Lord!

OLD HYMN BY BLIND, BED-RIDDEN ANNIE JOHNSON FLINT:

HE GIVETH MORE GRACE

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater;He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.To added affliction He addeth His mercy;To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.When we have exhausted our store of endurance;When our strength has failed 'ere the day is half done.When we reach the end of our hoarded resourcesOur Father's full giving is only begun.HIS LOVE HAS NO LIMIT, HIS GRACE HAS NO MEASUREHIS POWER HAS NO BOUNDARY KNOWN UNTO MENFOR OUT OF HIS INFINITE RICHES IN JESUS,HE GIVETH AND GIVETH AND GIVETH AGAIN.

Love, Jo

Friday, November 13, 2015

My greatest joy in this last season of my life is my Lord's gift of hearing that Ted's and my children are "walking in the Truth". Didn't John say that in his tiny little third epistle? Alongside that "joy" are two other emotions: enduring and despising. Suggestion: Read or listen to Hebrews 12:1 through 4, then do what the Spirit instructs all of us who are in the Body of Christ to do. One young man called me this past week, rightly disturbed about matters that concern us all. My words: "Pick your battles. Invest Jesus in the lives of these young people you coach who are quagmired in a sex-saturated, money grabbing, fatherless society!". This week a young woman asked me: "How do I know if a church is a 'good one'?" My answer: "Is there new-believer growth and are the people in the church discipling them or are they depending upon the paid staff to do it?"

I have just listened again through I and II Timothy. Last week in this blog I had been drenching my soul with Paul's words to the Thessalonians...his first books written through him by the Spirit of God. This week the Lord is taking me to the Timothy's: his last books written before Nero took him outside his dungeon/cell and had his head cut off. Paul did not dread it. He told us that all of us will suffer for the sake of the Gospel if we are going to be conveyor belts for the Truth. As I read and study God's Word in the comfort of my home, my mind stalls as I think of those who have been mocked, burned at the stake, tortured, crucified, sawn in two, flogged, spit upon. ...counting it a privilege to suffer for the Gospel. ...but for the "joy" set before them, they endured and despised the shame, fixing their eyes, just as we must, upon Jesus. ... to Mt. Zion, a City of the Living God that cannot be shaken.

Some of us endured being mocked and made fun of the first week we were born from above. Praise God! Ted and I did not separate from our families; the two-edged Sword of the Spirit separated us. My worst "mocker" was the brother I wrote about a few weeks ago that hauled me out of bed before dawn to go duck hunting. ...but when he hit a wall even he could not penetrate, he called Ted and me. "Why are you calling us?" I asked. "Because no one else in this family can help me." Ted and I were new in our life in Christ. We did not know how to be Christians, married Christians or married Christian parents. We entered into all three relationships with a mustard seed of faith. It was enough. It was the object of our faith that mattered. My brother Blair will be in the "throng of witnesses" waiting at the Gate for my arrival. ...whether that is tomorrow or years from now. Ted and I had sixty years together. I sometimes wonder: Did we have a "marriage" or did we have a "ministry"? The answer is "Yes"! Ted's and my marriage/ministry was fraught with testings. ...all from God to increase our trust in Him. We were a team. ...a team that was ridiculed for our determination to engage in quality, rather than quantity. The Lord excused us from the expectations of two elder boards: to bring in quantity rather than quality. Praise God! Just as with Paul who was sent home to Tarsus in order to hear only God's voice, telling him his assignment was to reach the Gentiles (Horrors!) rather than the Jews, the Lord removed us from what we thought was our assignment in order for us to hear his "still, small voice".

What is your definition of "quality"? Paul reminds Timothy in his second book (2:2) of that lightning- rod assignment to invest in reliable people who will invest in other reliable people, who will invest in other reliable people. ...four generations in one verse. I see nothing at all in this "swan song" about drawing attention to himself and his success as a leader to multitudes. Do you? Would Paul have ever dreamed that the Lord would put him in prison for the purpose of writing these transforming letters that have built millions of God's weak people into "oaks of righteousness"? A little verse in Habbakuk: 2:4 states: "The just...shall live...by faith". Romans is all about our being declared "just" by the Cross and the Resurrection. Ephesians is all about being justly "alive" because of the Cross and Resurrection. Hebrews is all about justly living "by faith", because of the Cross and Resurrection. (You may not think Paul wrote Hebrews. Who cares? That's one of those "useless arguments" Paul tells us to avoid.)

In Paul's last letter to Timothy, his beloved son-in-the-faith, whose Grandmother and Mother brought him to Paul to parent, he reminds him to teach men to pray. ...first of all. Praying requires humility. My Ted always said, because he knew himself and he "knew" men: A man will never become humble until he loses 1) his job; 2) his health; 3) his marriage. ...usually in that order. As together we watched men finally bow to Jesus rather than to Baal, Ted called the process: "The death rattle of the male ego."

A new woman was brought to the Thursday group yesterday, and what a joy she will be! I was wrapping up a study of Hebrews and decided to have our long-in-Heaven mentor, Ray Stedman wrap it for us as we listened to his overview of the book. I suggest that you do that too. (Ray Stedman.org) My new friend's words as Ray finished in prayer: "I will NOT be SHAKEN!" PRAISE GOD! Neither will I. Will YOU? "Fix your eyes only upon Jesus." ...not people. ...not the church. The church is not a "building made with hands". Christ IN us is the LIGHT in the ever-deepening darkness. Now, you decide what "reliable" means and you won't waste your time on hay, wood and stubble. What are you (I) going to do with the days or years we have left here in this fallen world?

OLD HYMN: AM I A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS?Am I a soldier of the cross? A follower if the Lamb?And shall I fear to own His cause, or blush to speak His Name?Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease?While others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood?In this vile world a friend to grace; to help him on to God?Sure, I must fight if I would reign; increase my courage, Lord.I'll hear the toll, endure the pain. Supported by His Word. Love, Jo

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

I awoke at the crack of midnight today, flipped on my Samsung tablet, turned it to "audio" and listened to the pleasant voice of the man who read Paul's words of love, encouragement and comfort to a fledgling church in Thessalonica. How very kind of the Lord to tell them the end of the story before their journey had barely begun. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18)

If anyone could have been proud of his doctrinal knowledge it was Paul the Apostle. He wasn't. I marvel as I listen to his words in this first Epistle written to these brand new Christians. Would anyone have said that Paul dispensed "sweet words" when he was murdering everyone who believed and received Jesus as the Messiah? ...but read the tender words he uses with these disciples. ...like those of a "nursing mother". Paul had been a determined, strategizing, logical man who was sure the Lord wanted him to reach his own Jewish people with the Gospel. He persisted. God's "still, small voice" reached the decibel of a megaphone, so loud thatpeacemaker Barnabas escorted him out of Jerusalem and back to his home town of Tarsus. For seven years he "cooled his heels", adjusting his mind to the will of God Who was sending him, not to Jerusalem or even Samaria, but unto the "uttermost parts of the then-known world". ...to the GENTILES! (This story resonates with a "certain sound" to many of us, doesn't it?) The Paul who wrote the Gentile Thessalonians is not the same man we knew in Damascus and Jerusalem. TRANS formation comes through pain. ... "unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies..."

Remember Paul's dream? A man called to him: "Come on over to Macedonia". Well, glory be! The "man" turned out to be a woman named "Lydia", a business woman he met near Philippi while gathered at the river to pray with his travel companions. Lydia came to know Christ right there and Paul baptized her. This woman was no shrinking violet. She insisted, as only a choleric woman can "insist" that the men come on over to her house for dinner. They did, and a church was born! Don't you love it? Lydia opened the door for the Gospel to all of Europe. ...through hospitality!

Many Christians are dusting off divisive old doctrines, and calling them "new". I will not verbally engage with them if I sense arrogance in their demeanor. If ever we need to be "one in the Spirit", it's NOW!

For several days a couple of weeks ago I hosted and counselled a precious couple from the north, retired from the business world and sincerely desirous of using their gifts to bring life into a "maintenance church" (...no new fruit and no discipleship). They were treated mercilessly by the very people they loved and served. No wonder many of us who hob nob with the world are told: "Don't invite me to church! I am fed up with 'organized religion' ". Me too. The church is to be an organism, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, growing and building itself up in love. My psychologist/university professor son regularly counsels "good people" (his words) who have been treated with such disrespect and cruelty by their mission or church leaders that they leave the ministry altogether and never become a part of a visible ministry again.

Monday, November 9, 2015

I awoke at the crack of midnight today, flipped on my Samsung tablet, turned it to "audio" and listened to the pleasant voice of the man who read Paul's words of love, encouragement and comfort to a fledgling church in Thessalonica. How very kind of the Lord to tell them the end of the story before their journey had barely begun. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18)

If anyone could have been proud of his doctrinal knowledge it was Paul the Apostle. He wasn't. I marvel as I listen to his words in this first Epistle written to these brand new Christians. Would anyone have said that Paul dispensed "sweet words" when he was murdering everyone who believed and received Jesus as the Messiah? ...but read the tender words he uses with these disciples. ...like those of a "nursing mother". Paul had been a determined, strategizing, logical man who was sure the Lord wanted him to reach his own Jewish people with the Gospel. He persisted. God's "still, small voice" reached the decibel of a megaphone, so loud thatpeacemaker Barnabas escorted him out of Jerusalem and back to his home town of Tarsus. For seven years he "cooled his heels", adjusting his mind to the will of God Who was sending him, not to Jerusalem or even Samaria, but unto the "uttermost parts of the then-known world". ...to the GENTILES! (This story resonates with a "certain sound" to many of us, doesn't it?) The Paul who wrote the Gentile Thessalonians is not the same man we knew in Damascus and Jerusalem. TRANS formation comes through pain. ... "unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies..."

Remember Paul's dream? A man called to him: "Come on over to Macedonia". Well, glory be! The "man" turned out to be a woman named "Lydia", a business woman he met near Philippi while gathered at the river to pray with his travel companions. Lydia came to know Christ right there and Paul baptized her. This woman was no shrinking violet. She insisted, as only a choleric woman can "insist" that the men come on over to her house for dinner. They did, and a church was born! Don't you love it? Lydia opened the door for the Gospel to all of Europe. ...through hospitality!

Many Christians are dusting off divisive old doctrines, and calling them "new". I will not verbally engage with them if I sense arrogance in their demeanor. If ever we need to be "one in the Spirit", it's NOW!

For several days a couple of weeks ago I hosted and counselled a precious couple from the north, retired from the business world and sincerely desirous of using their gifts to bring life into a "maintenance church" (...no new fruit and no discipleship). They were treated mercilessly by the very people they loved and served. No wonder many of us who hob nob with the world are told: "Don't invite me to church! I am fed up with 'organized religion' ". Me too. The church is to be an organism, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, growing and building itself up in love. My psychologist/university professor son regularly counsels "good people" (his words) who have been treated with such disrespect and cruelty by their mission or church leaders that they leave the ministry altogether and never become a part of a visible ministry again.

Sunday, November 8, 2015

I awoke at the crack of midnight today, flipped on my Samsung tablet, turned it to "audio" and listened to the pleasant voice of the man who read Paul's words of love, encouragement and comfort to a fledgling church in Thessalonica. How very kind of the Lord to tell them the end of the story before their journey had barely begun. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18)

If anyone could have been proud of his doctrinal knowledge it was Paul the Apostle. He wasn't. I marvel as I listen to his words in this first Epistle written to these brand new Christians. Would anyone have said that Paul dispensed "sweet words" when he was murdering everyone who believed and received Jesus as the Messiah? ...but read the tender words he uses with these disciples. ...like those of a "nursing mother". Paul had been a determined, strategizing, logical man who was sure the Lord wanted him to reach his own Jewish people with the Gospel. He persisted. God's "still, small voice" reached the decibel of a megaphone, so loud thatpeacemaker Barnabas escorted him out of Jerusalem and back to his home town of Tarsus. For seven years he "cooled his heels", adjusting his mind to the will of God Who was sending him, not to Jerusalem or even Samaria, but unto the "uttermost parts of the then-known world". ...to the GENTILES! (This story resonates with a "certain sound" to many of us, doesn't it?) The Paul who wrote the Gentile Thessalonians is not the same man we knew in Damascus and Jerusalem. TRANS formation comes through pain. ... "unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies..."

Remember Paul's dream? A man called to him: "Come on over to Macedonia". Well, glory be! The "man" turned out to be a woman named "Lydia", a business woman he met near Philippi while gathered at the river to pray with his travel companions. Lydia came to know Christ right there and Paul baptized her. This woman was no shrinking violet. She insisted, as only a choleric woman can "insist" that the men come on over to her house for dinner. They did, and a church was born! Don't you love it? Lydia opened the door for the Gospel to all of Europe. ...through hospitality!

Many Christians are dusting off divisive old doctrines, and calling them "new". I will not verbally engage with them if I sense arrogance in their demeanor. If ever we need to be "one in the Spirit", it's NOW!

For several days a couple of weeks ago I hosted and counselled a precious couple from the north, retired from the business world and sincerely desirous of using their gifts to bring life into a "maintenance church" (...no new fruit and no discipleship). They were treated mercilessly by the very people they loved and served. No wonder many of us who hob nob with the world are told: "Don't invite me to church! I am fed up with 'organized religion' ". Me too. The church is to be an organism, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, growing and building itself up in love. My psychologist/university professor son regularly counsels "good people" (his words) who have been treated with such disrespect and cruelty by their mission or church leaders that they leave the ministry altogether and never become a part of a visible ministry again.

Friday, November 6, 2015

I awoke at the crack of midnight today, flipped on my Samsung tablet, turned it to "audio" and listened to the pleasant voice of the man who read Paul's words of love, encouragement and comfort to a fledgling church in Thessalonica. How very kind of the Lord to tell them the end of the story before their journey had barely begun. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18)

If anyone could have been proud of his doctrinal knowledge it was Paul the Apostle. He wasn't. I marvel as I listen to his words in this first Epistle written to these brand new Christians. Would anyone have said that Paul dispensed "sweet words" when he was murdering everyone who believed and received Jesus as the Messiah? ...but read the tender words he uses with these disciples. ...like those of a "nursing mother". Paul had been a determined, strategizing, logical man who was sure the Lord wanted him to reach his own Jewish people with the Gospel. He persisted. God's "still, small voice" reached the decibel of a megaphone, so loud thatpeacemaker Barnabas escorted him out of Jerusalem and back to his home town of Tarsus. For seven years he "cooled his heels", adjusting his mind to the will of God Who was sending him, not to Jerusalem or even Samaria, but unto the "uttermost parts of the then-known world". ...to the GENTILES! (This story resonates with a "certain sound" to many of us, doesn't it?) The Paul who wrote the Gentile Thessalonians is not the same man we knew in Damascus and Jerusalem. TRANS formation comes through pain. ... "unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies..."

Remember Paul's dream? A man called to him: "Come on over to Macedonia". Well, glory be! The "man" turned out to be a woman named "Lydia", a business woman he met near Philippi while gathered at the river to pray with his travel companions. Lydia came to know Christ right there and Paul baptized her. This woman was no shrinking violet. She insisted, as only a choleric woman can "insist" that the men come on over to her house for dinner. They did, and a church was born! Don't you love it? Lydia opened the door for the Gospel to all of Europe. ...through hospitality!

Many Christians are dusting off divisive old doctrines, and calling them "new". I will not verbally engage with them if I sense arrogance in their viewpoint regarding REformed Theology, REplacement Theology, "A", "Pre", "Mid" or "Post" Millennial persuasions, gifts of the Spirit, ..and that's the short list! If ever we who have taken up our cross to follow Him need to be "one in the Spirit", it's NOW!

For several days a couple of weeks ago I hosted and counselled a precious couple from the north, retired from the business world and sincerely desirous of using their gifts to bring life into a "maintenance church" (...no new fruit and no discipleship). They were treated mercilessly by the very people they loved and served. No wonder many of us who hob nob with the world are told: "Don't invite me to church! I am fed up with "organized religion". Me too. The church is to be an organism, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, growing and building itself up in love. My psychologist/university professor son regularly counsels "good people" (his words) who have been treated with such disrespect and cruelty by their mission or church leaders that they leave the ministry altogether and never become a part of a visible ministry again.